Materials Characterization

The Materials Characterization Group is part of the X-ray Science Division (XSD) at the Advanced Photon Source.

Our group uses diffraction techniques to examine the atomic structure and microstructure of materials for both internal research programs and support of user research in these areas. Studies are made of bulk materials as well as structures at surfaces or interfaces.

Applications for these types of analysis are most typically in the areas of materials science and engineering as well as solid-state and inorganic chemistry, condensed-matter physics, biomechanics and geosciences. The group operates beamlines in Sectors 1, 11, 33 and 34.

Research Techniques used by Materials Characterization scientists include:

microdiffraction (monochromatic and Laue)
grain-growth studies
internal strain/stress characterization
texture studies
surface scattering
coherent x-ray scattering

Atomic/molecular structure in solid-state and liquid materials is probed using:

powder diffraction
pair-distribution-function analysis
resonant scattering
single-crystal diffraction
diffuse scattering

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